The crushing housing burden on the young. Boomers, investors and landlords profit

JencParker

OffGridLiving wrote: »

In the old days, first time buyers earning a pittance could afford 3 bed homes with a nice bit of garden in the centre of London.

What old days were they then?

GwylimT

wotsthat wrote: »

10% deposit of £15k and a monthly mortgage of £790 (5% fixed).

What are the steps required to take you from where you are now to the new place? Are you willing to take them? Are they worthwhile?

If you do the sums and on balance decide that renting is the best option then you've made a positive decision. Nothing wrong with renting and if buying isn't the best option then why do it?

You clearly haven't read my posts correctly.

jamesd

GwylimT wrote: »

Even with lower worktops she would be unable to use the kitchen, we would be unable to install a wet room (not allowed retrospectively as the risk of damage to the flat below is so high) so she would be unable to bathe.

OK, I'll assume that there's insufficient space to get a wheelchair around and that the partition walls can't be changed, after paying suitable fees to get it done, and that some negotiation can't get some arrangement about wet room installation either. Might well be true, or spending some money might get rid of the problems.

Lets assume that one is unsuitable and move on to more.

GwylimT wrote: »

The cheapest flat we could find that actually was wheelchair friendly where we could both actually get to work was £150K, the only other flat we found was executive housing well over £200K and too far for us to be able to get to our place of work.

Within three miles of LS1 I can find three bedroom terraced houses for sale at say £85,000. That's a whole freehold house that you can do anything you like to subject only to planning permission. No rule says that you have to live on both floors of a house, it's fine to live just on the ground floor after adapting that.

But there are places for less than that, like this two bedroom ground floor flat for £50,000, in a converted house. Looks as though some adjustments to internal partition walls might be required to provide sufficient space to get around in a wheelchair but the cost of that is very limited.

Don't like that one and whatever can be done with some money? Try this ground floor one bedroom flat for £53,500. Looks as though some adjustment to partition walls to make the bathroom wheelchair friendly on space grounds would be needed.

So, what's wrong with those that can't be fixed by spending less than the difference between the £150,000 you've quoted and their purchase prices?

I'm still using a within three miles of LS1 constraint for these, I don't know how far you consider is acceptable for commuting but I hope it's more than three miles.

OffGridLiving

I wonder how long jamesd will try to solve problems for the 'nothing can be fixed' brigade on this board before he starts calling them 'these people'...

jamesd wrote: »

OffGridLiving wrote: »

Fatal flaw, these people don't want solutions they want to blame other people for their problems and moan about it to strangers on the internet.

I'm not greatly keen on wording like "these people". GwylimT is just people like everyone else here.

Maybe GwylimT wouldn't like the choices available but pointing out options and the choices can be useful in case people think it's actually impossible just because they haven't looked. Then it becomes a matter of personal choice rather than lack of ability.

I can virtually* guarantee that flaws will be found in any property he finds and any solution he comes up with will not suit.

* I'd normally say 'definitely', but now I've made the prediction, it could effect the result.

wotsthat

ruggedtoast wrote: »

It's a shame when people find that they can't disclose even the slightest personal information on a message board without it being mis-interpreted, taken out of context, and used against them months down the line by God knows who.

It renders the internet a nastier place, and dramatically reduces the entire point of a community message board.

Maybe you should think about which side of that equation you stand on.

I remember the post and must admit I put two and two together. I don't know why you're so bothered as everyone likes to understand why people say things as well as what they say.

Knowing that your boomer dad refused point blank to help you buy a house doesn't render your views on boomers invalid but it allows the appropriate sized pinch of salt to be taken.

I have a second home and that might be worth knowing when considering my views on council tax for second homes (robbing gits!)

If I'm interested in posts about wealth building then I'd give more credence to people who have managed to build some than from those that haven't and appear unlikely to.

This isn't the worst part of the internet, it's not full of people spouting complete crap and you can generally have a disagreement without the threat of a beating (well since Foxy was banned anyway).

wotsthat

GwylimT wrote: »

You clearly haven't read my posts correctly.

You're welcome.

OffGridLiving

JencParker wrote: »

What old days were they then?

The MSE Housing Board 'old days', referenced often in discussions about house prices pre-boom as opposed to those post-boom.

In the 'old days' pre-boom, 3 bed homes could be bought by vagrants and so no one struggled to buy a house. It was a housing nirvana.

jamesd

OffGridLiving wrote: »

I wonder how long jamesd will try to solve problems for the 'nothing can be fixed' brigade on this board before he starts calling them 'these people'...

I won't choose to use that wording. For the one with the lift I can see that space is limited and given the nature of the property it might not be possible to adjust that for a wheelchair. That's going to be a much harder argument to make given a ground floor house conversion or even a whole house to work with. For those, it's possible to do even things like removing every internal wall and assigning the space as required so it's going to be really hard to argue just that they aren't suitable for a wheelchair.

GwylimT does have a partner with specific needs, so can't use the lowest cost properties in the area. That's reasonable enough. It might take going beyond the three mile constraint to get to a more affordable budget, though. Depends on just what the possible conversion work cost would be.

GwylimT

jamesd wrote: »

OK, I'll assume that there's insufficient space to get a wheelchair around and that the partition walls can't be changed, after paying suitable fees to get it done, and that some negotiation can't get some arrangement about wet room installation either. Might well be true, or spending some money might get rid of the problems.

Lets assume that one is unsuitable and move on to more.

Within three miles of LS1 I can find three bedroom terraced houses for sale at say £85,000. That's a whole freehold house that you can do anything you like to subject only to planning permission. No rule says that you have to live on both floors of a house, it's fine to live just on the ground floor after adapting that.

But there are places for less than that, like this two bedroom ground floor flat for £50,000, in a converted house. Looks as though some adjustments to internal partition walls might be required to provide sufficient space to get around in a wheelchair but the cost of that is very limited.

Don't like that one and whatever can be done with some money? Try this ground floor one bedroom flat for £53,500. Looks as though some adjustment to partition walls to make the bathroom wheelchair friendly on space grounds would be needed.

So, what's wrong with those that can't be fixed by spending less than the difference between the £150,000 you've quoted and their purchase prices?

I'm still using a within three miles of LS1 constraint for these, I don't know how far you consider is acceptable for commuting but I hope it's more than three miles.

There isn't room on the first floor for a kitchen/dining area, living area, wetroom and a bedroom. It would also mean our children couldn't sleep upstairs as when I am here my wife would be unable to see to them. You would have to widen all doorways but that is expect in properties that aren't fairly new and its actually easier in properties were internal walls aren't stud walls. It would be handy if there was a picture of the actual entrance, those that have a small area with doorway and stairs straight ahead tend to be too small to use a wheelchair.

We looked around the second one! It did turn out to be too small to have room for a wetroom and a bedroom big enough for a bed and room for her chair, but the leaseholder also didn't allow structural change.

Third, we have two children, not sure where they would sleep!

jamesd

I'm glad you looked around the second one. I was worried that you might be eliminating places that would require work. I also pretty much expect that most places on the market would require doorway and other work. Just a fact of life.

For the house, it may be possible to install a lift, either through floor or, probably less viable, staircase type. Looks like thee through floor type would cost £8,000 or so.

Children? I think this is getting a bit too far beyond the what originally prompted me to reply. £17k for a couple alone is fine, add in accessibility need and children and the purchase cost goes up quite a bit. Or the area has to expand. But I hope that with two people and two children the total income is more than £17,000.

wotsthat wrote: »

Wouldn't this be more appropriate to continue on the house buying board?

Maybe GwylimT would want to do that but it's interesting here to investigate housing options for those with special needs and how those compare to the general market.

If you do find something that you consider off topic, do go ahead and report it and let the Forum Team decide whether they agree with you or not. That wouldn't be you being petty, just helping them to keep things on the track they want.